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The 10 roles of the Change Agent

by robfindlay on 06. Jun, 2010 in innovation, strategy

So, you feel like an odd one out. You wonder why no one in the room can see the blinding obvious. What we should all be doing. But its the standard politics, or lack of accountability that seems to be stunting your organisations ability to head in the RIGHT direction (or the right one as you see it!) as opposed to the same old trodden path, which as we all know, will lead to the looming demise of many businesses and industries.

1. The Dreamer
You’ll need to think of quite illiogical possibilities, of seemingly odd pairings of ideas, of ideallic future states for the business that will require drastic transformation, yet seem impossible to ignore or aim for. You’ll need to articulate these visions in ways that non-change agents can understand, and sell the future, and the first step towards it.

2. The Strategist
You’ll need to formulate a way to get the right movement forward to align with the objectives of interested parties – like management, shareholders, etc. You’ll need to create both incremental change that adds to a large amount, or introduce ground breaking change that is too compelling to ignore.

3. The Agitator
You’ll need to be prepared to take a different view to those in the room, to put the mirror of the real world up to the face of the business, and show whats really going on. You’ll need to bring some harsh and simple reality to the table, and fight to get this heard. This may not prove popular. But not many change agents are, and rarely survive long.

4. The Networker
You’ll need a strong network across the business to simply survive, let alone thrive. But you’ll also need to use the network to get some of the less formal or traditional initiatives potentially happen. A seemingly random collection of people from across a business, sometimes called a multi-functional team, can achieve odd results when doing things ‘under the radar’

5. The Connector
You’ll be in a rare position that your new network will make you vital in creating connections across the business. When you hear about project A relates to topic Z, and so does project B, you connect the people together and become a key link in reducing double up in the business.

6. The Influencer
You’ll realise that agitation doesn’t always work, but given its your natural instinct to do so, its hard to play the game. Influencing others to make a positive change of direction will become a skill you’ll need to garner funds, resources, approval, etc.

7. The Designer
You’ll need to appreciate the finer craft of delivery, and of customer and user experience, as this will prove the difference in uptake in your ideas. A new idea packaged in a better way than others can manage means a better chance of success – just ask Apple about their iPod.

8. The Journalist
You’ll need the curiosity of the journalist – about every topic, in every field, in any time – as others will throw all manner of logic to rebutt your ideas. You’ll also find that this wide understanding of the world feeds your creative mind, and creates left-field thinking. And just like a journalist you’ll need excellent communication and writing skills!

9. The Project Manager
You’ll need to be very organised to get ideas flowing through, and people in line to assist you. You’ll need to show the business that you can create structure where they thought structure couldn’t exist.

10. The Deliver-er-er
You’ll need to produce the goods, deliver to market, and create customer response. This can take time, often means short term flame and pain, but in the long term must align to a change strategy.

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Own the process, share the outcome

by robfindlay on 30. Apr, 2010 in strategy

A colleague and I were taking the 10000th person through our project process and progress, and we were trying to articulate our stakeholder engagement philosophy, when it occurred to me why it had gone so well to date.

Normally, a project like the large online project we ran usually ends up with the standard ‘design by committee’ outcome, or struggles to avoid it but somehow can’t avoid it. What we’ve managed to do with this project is engage dozens of people, help them understand the change we’re undertaking, and let them leave the briefing feeling like they’re across the process, and even support the decisions we’ve made and give ongoing support.

So we’ve been able to own the process yet share the outcome.

Controlling the way the project is run is different to allowing all to understand and support this control, and even be involved in the decision making process. This has been a unique benefit that you should strive for in your project – it creates an efficient and focussed outcome.

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Does size really matter?

by robfindlay on 22. Feb, 2010 in mobile, strategy

As you can imagine, I’ve been at it for days. I’ve been researching, comparing and fact checking. I’ve been verifying with sources, consulting experts and listening to futurists.

Just joking.

Again, your instincts are right. The Bank Channel is not a source of journalistic accuracy. More a series of random thoughts plotted on professional looking diagrams. Like this one:

 
Here it is. My Screen size vs Capability Matrix. I made a recent trip up to Sin City to see a few of the devices you see here. And I thought of this basic way to plot the myriad of devices that are coming along. 

This is by no means the only way, nor is every device on here, nor are they particularly accurate or to scale. This is of course not the point. Creating some sort of a landscape against which we can comprehend the world of devices now available and soon to be available is important, as it can give you some direction from which to understand their use and prioritise your attention to them.

I have here a couple of axes:

On the left, there is capability / innovation. This axis simply talks about the increasing capability in devices that previously were relatively simple, or play a cheaper, less notable role.

On the bottom axis, there is screen size. Despite the ability to do anytihng, I see screen size as being a critical factor in limiting certain devices in their capability compared to their bigger cousins. 

But this chart is relative, and so the iphone is an incredibly capable device for its size compared to a digital photo frame, rather than to a full PC unit.

Another axis, perhaps on a third dimension, would be DOS>click>touch>multi-touch. But thats a bit too controversial at the moment.

The green highlight shows for me where the leaders are (and in the case of TV always have been). This is where the boundary is constantly being pushed, and the capability grows dramatically.

Its about the appropriate capability for the appropriate device.

All you have to do, is decide which goes with which.

Just a thought. Comments?

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How is your bank positioned for 2010?

by robfindlay on 04. Jan, 2010 in strategy

Happy new year to you all – there is certainly a positive feeling about 2010 that means we’ll all be busy throughout the year.

The industry seems both well placed and at the same time under threat – slow moving large organisations must learn to be nimble, and quick to respond in the face of drastic change from non-banks, direct offerings, heck anyone with an idea, a PC and an internet connection.

My personal goals include a leap forward for innovation and direct interactions for my bank, and hopefully you’ll see some exciting things to come from NAB and our peers and friends in other banks. Australian banks have weathered the storm well, and the fight is on now to create a compelling suite of direct and other channel offerings. Let me know when you and your bank have something ready to launch and we can share it on The Bank Channel.

But back to my post.

It’s perhaps a strange coincidence that 2010 is in Chinese Horoscopes the year of the Tiger, and more particularly the year of the element metal. The Tigers rapid growth continues through the application of Metal sees our Australian economy (and the wallets of Andrew Forrest and others at BHP, Rio) continue to stabilise and steady due to export of iron ore and other materials.

But this year will also see major challenges to banks and other traditional organisations as new communication and business models embed themselves in our lives, and have exited their embryonic status from their time on the 2000’s.

Personally, I see an exciting time ahead for those banks who have the following attributes:

  • Genuine leadership support for innovation – and I dont mean innovation in the current, fluffy vague sense – I mean innovation that produces new ways of creating revenue, customer relationships and cost reduction
  • Genuine intent from projects to create integrated and seamless outcomes
  • Genuine messages and brand articulation – make your advertising and communication mean something

Will your bank be a hunter, and aggressively embrace this new way of communicating and doing business, or will it be hunted, and sit back waiting to be consumed?

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How Social Media Can Make History

by robfindlay on 01. Dec, 2009 in social media, strategy

From June, but super powerful

How Social Media Can Make HIstory

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When good experiences go bad, and vice versa

by robfindlay on 01. Dec, 2009 in strategy

Not sure about you, but I think there are some industries where good experiences are the norm and a bad experience jolts your sense of reality. And conversely there are industries where bad experiences are the norm, and a good experience can also jolt your sense of reality. Let me explain through an example, and perhaps give some perspective on the heirachy of experience-based industries.

When good experiences go bad
First lets look at those industries who against my Disintermediation Matrix – those businesses that are able to maintain both their obsession with customer service, and embrace the new world of technology will survive this post GFC world – are likely to make it good. Retail, hospitality, personal services, etc. These are the industries that in some ways have it made, and in others are doomed to a lifetime of maintaining high standards. And when things go bad, we all hear about it – a small error by a cleaning maid in the biggest and best hotels; a slight glitch in a new mercedes creates a stir; an Apple laptop has a pixel out right in the middle of the screen.

When bad experiences go good 
There are those businesses who create low expectations – like banks, telcos, insurance companies – and as such, customers go in knowing that in general, things will go average at best, best on average. So sometimes, when things go well, there is a surprise, and as the saying goes, a delight. A phone call back from the bank within 10 minutes; an easy and quick close to an outstanding credit card; a stress free move of your telcos accounts from your old house to your new one. These seem like simple, obvious things, but for companies like these, they’re difficult to achieve, and when they happen, everyone seems pleased.

So, the question is, really – which company can change from being generally bad to generally good? Or is there more opportunity in being bad, or just average, and surprising people every now and then?

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